What were the core ideas of Nehru’s foreign policy after India’s independence?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Sovereignty, Economic Growth, and Territorial Integrity
The three major objectives of Nehru’s foreign policy were to preserve the hard-earned sovereignty, protect territorial integrity, and promote rapid economic development, through the strategy of non-alignment.
Option (1) Sovereignty, Economic Growth, and Nuclear Weapons — Incorrect. Nuclear weapons were never an objective: India wanted to generate atomic energy for peaceful purposes, and Nehru was against nuclear weapons. The option also leaves out territorial integrity.
Option (2) Territorial Integrity, Nuclear Weapons, and Sovereignty — Incorrect. It again puts nuclear weapons in place of rapid economic development; Nehru pleaded with the superpowers for comprehensive nuclear disarmament.
Option (3) Testing Nuclear Weapons, Economic Growth, and Maintaining Peace — Incorrect. Nehru’s India did not test nuclear weapons, and the option leaves out both sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Option (4) Sovereignty, Economic Growth, and Territorial Integrity — Correct.
NCERT (2025-26): “Nehru’s role … The first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a crucial role in setting the national agenda. He was his own foreign minister. Thus both as the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, he exercised profound influence in the formulation and implementation of India’s foreign policy from 1946 to 1964. The three major objectives of Nehru’s foreign policy were to preserve the hard-earned sovereignty, protect territorial integrity, and promote rapid economic development. Nehru wished to achieve these objectives through the strategy of non-alignment.…” |